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Industry and academia for a transition towards sustainability: advancing sustainability science through university–business collaborations

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  • Sustainability science: bridging the gap between science and society
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Abstract

This paper gathers evidence from the current crisis in sustainability, which indeed has led to unsustainable global, social and human systems, to reaffirm the increasing importance of the business sector, not only in terms of its central role in the achievement of the current unsustainable path, but above all the role still to be played by business in the transition towards sustainability. Principally, this review focuses on the concept of business sustainability and calls for the necessity of collaboration between industry and academia within the context of sustainability science. To provide a reasoned and robust argument, the main co-operation modalities and best practice currently applied out of the sustainability science paradigm are reviewed. Furthermore, collaborations between industry and academia experienced within the framework of International Conferences on Sustainability Science (ICSS) are analyzed, by describing the founding principles of the innovative scientific paradigm, its evolution and its application to the field. In addition, the manuscript stresses the current relevance of the sustainability science discipline while attempting to institutionalize a collaborative and participative process, and confronts the expected outcomes with the obstacles faced. Finally, the paper proposes a series of recommendations for conducting successful business–academic collaborations within the framework of sustainability science.

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Notes

  1. A more detailed literature review on sustainability science is provided in the section on industry–academia collaboration below.

  2. In the closed cycle collaboration process, industry identifies problems, asks academia to analyze and to find solutions for them, evaluates their feasibility from a corporate perspective, keeping in mind the establishment of good practice with joint solutions that are beneficial for society as a whole.

  3. During the ICSS ‘A Roadmap for Industry–academia Collaboration Towards Sustainability’ workshop held in New York in October 2010, the case of photovoltaic development within the context of IAC and Sustainability Science was debated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Fabio Orecchini

  2. Guglielmo Marconi University, Rome, Italy

    Fabio Orecchini

  3. CIRPS Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Valeria Valitutti & Giorgio Vitali

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  1. Fabio Orecchini
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  2. Valeria Valitutti
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  3. Giorgio Vitali
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Correspondence to Fabio Orecchini.

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Handled by Masaru Yarime, The University of Tokyo, Japan.

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Orecchini, F., Valitutti, V. & Vitali, G. Industry and academia for a transition towards sustainability: advancing sustainability science through university–business collaborations. Sustain Sci 7 (Suppl 1), 57–73 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-011-0151-3

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